"I call it that because I can pretty much still do everything
that I was able to do before it happened, and there's a lot of guys
with a lot worse injuries," the Bay Area native said Friday. "To
call it anything more than that would be completely
disrespectful."

It was there that more than 400 newly minted Navy doctors,
nurses and corpsmen underwent training this week in lifelike
battlefield scenarios such as the one in which Ramos was
injured.

An exercise shortly after sunrise Friday started with a loud
explosion as a role player dressed as an Afghan detonated a fake
suicide bomb.

Fake bloody body parts were strewn about and two role-players
portraying severely injured Marines laid on the ground. One had a
gaping chest wound; the other a right eyeball dangling down his
cheek and shrapnel wounds. Both were covered in mock blood.

For corpsman Charles Groen of Denver, 21, the training to treat
troops injured in that fashion is critical to what lies ahead for
him.

He and several other corpsmen are slated to board planes for a
more than 9,000-mile flight to the battlefields of Afghanistan in a
few weeks.

Groen is bound for the Kandahar area shortly after the first of
the year.

"It's getting us in the right mindset," he said at the
conclusion of the simulation.

Groen said the exercise, which took place on a blocked-off
street and field at the Navy medical center complex, is the
culmination of a year's worth of training.

"They've been stressing us out with all the yelling and training
we get in these scenarios," he said. "But I know it's going to
help."

For the corpsmen who accompany Marine foot patrols and give the
first care when someone is hurt, the training is vital.

The noise and smoke from the simulated explosive, the yelling by
trainers and the mock body parts strewn around the field condition
the troops to be ready the moment they're attacked, said veteran
Corpsman Anthony Amesquita, who helped train the newbies.

"These guys simply have to be able to use all the tools they've
been taught when there's nothing but chaos all around them," he
said.

Trainers said they hope the "stress inoculation" will keep the
corpsmen calm.

But not all was going well in the scenario.

Two squad members were assigned to provide security, but several
other troops weren't helping the corpsman treat the injured.

"Communicate," Amequita screamed at those who weren't helping.
"Help the corpsman check them for wounds."

"We train these guys over and over again to get used to the
explosions and seeing the blood and people losing their limbs and
knowing what to do immediately," he said after the exercise ended.
"We want the mistakes to happen here and not over there."